Av. half-figure of a curly-haired, bareheaded man facing, wearing a chasuble, raising his hands; above, a triple arch without architectural details.
Silver, 0.10 g, 15.6 mm. Haczewska & Paszkiewicz (NNZN V), no. 2. Grade II-. Cracked at ¼ of diameter, otherwise perfectly preserved and legible.
There is undoubtedly a holy presbyter on the
coin, so not St. Stephen, maybe Stanislas—as Witold Garbaczewski guesses—but
maybe also Adalbert or another bishop. The coins of this group are usually
attributed to Leszek (actually Lestek) the White, which may be true, but the
discussion on this subject is far from over. Anyway, this whole series of small
Cracow bracteates is one of the most beautiful Polish (and not only Polish)
coins of the Middle Ages.
